Exodus: the struggle

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'" But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord , that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord , and moreover, I will not let Israel go." Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword." But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens." And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!" The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words." So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.'" So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, "Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw." And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, "Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?" Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, "Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks!' And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people." But he said, "You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord .' Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks." The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, "You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day." They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, "The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, "O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all."

But the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land." God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the Lord . I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the Lord , and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord .'" Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. So the Lord said to Moses, "Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land." But Moses said to the Lord , "Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?" But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. - Exodus 5-6:‬13 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Struggling Against

Moses asked for Pharaoh to let the people of Israel to go. The pharaoh refused. Moses asked again in the name of the Lord. Then Pharaoh makes Israel pay for the request by no longer providing straw. He did this to drive a wedge between Moses and the people of Israel. But there's a greater struggle. Pharaoh considered himself a god and Israel was to serve him. The Lord considered Israel His as well. So there is another battle between God and the rulers of this world. God wants the people of Israel for the salvation and blessing of the world. Pharaoh wanted the Israelites to slave for him instead. 

So it is for us, God wants to rule over our lives, but sin is also there. We will read later about God hardening Pharaoh's heart and also Pharaoh hardening his own heart. This is a picture knowing that the true enemy is Satan, not each other. We are called to love our enemies, not hate those who holds differing opinions or worldviews.

Struggling In

Moses finds that the foremen of Israel rebuke him for putting that request to Pharaoh. They are saying that Moses had just made their lives harder. Moses was living in the gap between promise and reality. We are given freedom by Christ, but we only experience struggle. This is the gap that Moses sits in and often where we will find ourselves during times of intense trial. We can find it hard to trust in God's promises. This is not the struggle of a non-believer, but of the believer. We need to go to God.

Finding strength for the struggle

When the foremen of Israel were oppressed, what did they do? They went to Pharaoh their oppressor. So often we find ourselves going to our oppressor for salvation and help. We go to false gods. And just like the foremen, we find no help. And sometimes we may find more trouble rather than help. Often God allows our circumstances to go from bad to worse to show us who our true enemy is and what kind of oppressed life we walked. God brought Israel out of Egypt but then made Israel wander the desert. God wanted to bring Egypt out of the Israelites. So God wants to do with us. He brings us through the gap to show us our false gods and His faithfulness to us.